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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28630473">Vision</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_Found/pseuds/Paradise_Found'>Paradise_Found</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Bedtime Stories, F/M, Family, I'm Bad At Tagging, Love, Original Character(s), Story within a Story, Villains make good daddies, parenting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:21:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,339</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28630473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradise_Found/pseuds/Paradise_Found</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Malgus reads a bedtime story. This is a buy one get one free kinda deal.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleena Daru/Darth Malgus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vision</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hope you are keeping safe, wherever you are.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With a press of a switch on the wall, Valoria’s room transitions from the bright of day to the dim of night. The image of the projected sun wanes and a sliver of moon takes its place, with glittering stars dotting throughout the violet colour of dusk. The animation moves on the wall at a calming pace, rolls of gray clouds amble in the backdrop, setting a picture-perfect scene of the decadence of nightfall. A noise machine changes its tune from joyful chirps of wild birds to the ambient pattering of rain as bedtime nears. Elegant puffs of fragrant air rise from a diffuser, carrying the scent of wet soil and dewed foliage.</p><p>“Read story?” Valoria offers a small holoprojector in her tiny palm to Malgus, her other hand is occupied with the firm grasp of her doll. He accepts her offer and relaxes in a reclining chair near her bed.</p><p>She runs gleefully towards her father and climbs into his lap. A click of the holoprojector reveals the various titles of books stored inside. She peruses her collection thoughtfully, hesitating with each graphic display. After a few discarded choices, she arrives at the chosen entertainment with an excited squeal. Valoria nestles her back on her father’s chest, finding the right spot for her head to lie against. As often as her mother warns her about her habit, she promptly puts her thumb in her mouth, an action to elicit comfort. He presses a button and the pages of her selected book open in front of them. With a dramatic pause, Malgus clears the cobwebs from his throat, inhales and reads the words out loud.</p><p>
  <em>The sun was finally out after raining for two whole weeks. Euphie felt like she was getting pruney just by breathing the air! She ran as fast as she could towards the opened gates of the park near her house. She stopped just before the playground and looked around for Jak.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hey Euphie!” Jak greeted his friend. She is a year older than Jak but he has already grown much taller than her and other children their age.</em>
</p><p><em>“Good morning Jak, let’s go play.”</em> Malgus adopts a higher-pitched voice to differentiate between the characters in the book. He chuckles at his warped voice and continues.</p><p>
  <em>“I want to look at the birds today.” Jak said and pointed towards the playground. “There’s a weird kid there, I don’t want to play with him.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What’s so weird about him?” Euphie asked and saw a Wookie boy sitting alone on the bottom of the slide.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“He’s not...you know, us.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Us?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yeah, he’s not Human.” Jak looked at the fallen leaves on the ground and kicked some in the air.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“So? I’m not Human either, not full Human anyway.” Euphie sniffed and wiped her nose on her wrist.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’ve heard that Wookies are mean, so I don’t want to play, not with him.” Jak turned towards the big water fountain and walked away from Euphie. Euphie followed slowly behind Jak but turned to look at the Wookie boy, who was still sitting all alone.</em>
</p><p>“Jak not nice” Valoria says, clutching her doll.</p><p>“No, Jak isn’t very nice.” Malgus agrees and resumes the story.</p><p>
  <em>Later that day, Euphie told her dad about what happened in the park.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I didn’t like what Jak said. I don’t know why, but I didn’t like it.” She rolled the meatball around her plate with her fork. “He said the Wookie wasn’t ‘us’, what did he mean by that?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I think Jak believes that people who aren’t Human are other than.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Other than?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes. Do you think aliens are other than, Euphie?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“No! I mean, I don’t think so. I’m half alien right Dad?” Euphie asked and watched her father’s face. She didn’t look like him on the outside, but she liked to think that she was exactly like him, on the inside.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“You are not half of anything. You are whole, of both Twi’lek and Human.” Her dad corrected.</em>
</p><p>“Valoria too!” She jumps in Malgus’s lap and turns to face her father, with the same green eyes he had in his youth.</p><p>A suggestion of a smile breaks the lamenting expression on his face. He once had the ambition to ensure that the Empire under his rule would strengthen through tolerance, but now, he lives for orders and self-preservation. Malgus resumes the story once again.</p><p>
  <em>Euphie sat quietly for a moment. She thought about the Wookie on the bottom of the slide. He looked very lonely. Euphie has never seen a Wookie before, not in real life anyway.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What do you think I should do?” Euphie asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I think you should do what you feel is right in your heart.” Her dad said with a smile.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The next day, Euphie went to the park again. The Wookie was there, he was sitting by himself on one of the swings, there was a frown on his face.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What’s wrong?” Euphie asked the Wookie.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Rarrrrrwwwwr.” The Wookie said and looked down at his furry feet.</em>
</p><p>“Rarrrrrwwwwr!” Valoria roars a copy of her father’s imitation of a Wookie and giggles.</p><p>
  <em>“Don’t be sad, I can play with you. My name is Euphie.” She smiled at the Wookie and walked behind to push him on the swing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Rwwwwaaaarrrrr!” The Wookie said with a grin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hey! What do you think you’re doing? You’re not supposed to play with him!” Jak came running towards Euphie and yelled.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Jak, I want to play with—” She stopped pushing and came around to the front of the swing. “What is your name?” She asked.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Wrrrraaawwwrrr.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Muu. I want to play with Muu, Jak. You can play with us or play by yourself.” Euphie said and pushed the swing again.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Jak looked around, there were other kids playing but he liked playing with Euphie.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Fine. But he better know how to play tag.” Jak said with a pout.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Rrraaaaaawwwrrrr!” The Wookie said and laughed. Euphie laughed too.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“What’s so funny?” Jak asked, his cheeks were bright red.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Muu said of course he knows how to play, he just hopes you can run half as fast as him on those short little legs!” Euphie held both of her arms around her stomach, she laughed so hard that it started to hurt!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Weeks have gone by and the three of them, Euphie, Jak and Muu were playing together almost every day they could.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>One day, a new kid came to the park, a Rodian. Her eyes were as big as the moon and as beautiful as the starry sky.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Hey, you’re new here, I haven’t seen you around.” Jak asked the Rodian girl. She sat by herself at the bottom of the slide, just like Muu when he first saw him. “I’m Jak, do you want to play with us?” He pointed at Euphie and Muu, who were standing by the water fountain, jumping up and down and waving their arms in the air.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Rodian girl smiled at Jak, she stood up and ran with him towards her new friends.</em>
</p><p>The image of the book clears from the air, the holo releases a soft hum, then deactivates.</p><p>“Jak nice.” Valoria says with a mouthful of her thumb.</p><p>“Jak is nice now, yes. My dear, it is time for you to go to bed.” Malgus repeats the sentiments of his daughter and picks her up from his lap. Her small arms wrap firm around his neck, squeezing tight as each step brings her closer to her bed. A warm fleshy lekku presses against the coolness of his face, he prys her away, with reluctance.</p><p>He gently places Valoria’s head in the bounce of her pillow and strokes the fullness of her cheeks. He looks into the iridescent green of her eyes and starts to hum. It is a tune he makes on a whim, something he thinks would help ease Valoria into a quick slumber. A string of melodic notes with the accompaniment of words in another language. Simple, loving words that do not translate fully into the crudeness of Basic. There is much potential in her, potential he isn’t sure would be properly recognized in the Empire. Her father’s lullaby mesmerizes her consciousness, with her thumb in her mouth, suckling softly, she hugs her doll closer to her chest.</p><p>“Papa hurt?” She touches her small fingers to the scars on his face.</p><p>“No, the scars do not hurt me anymore.”</p><p>He watches her fade into the calmness of sleep, lulled by her thumb sucking. He notices the lowering of her eyelids and hears each breath lengthen. Malgus leans in and kisses Valoria on her smooth forehead, the remnant of her body heat stays on his lips, a sensation so real it hurts to feel. He stands and stays a few seconds by her bed. Something pulls him away from her in the depths of his mind, but he wills himself to stay in this moment, for just a second longer.</p><p>“Love you, Papa.” Valoria says in her half-sleep. She exhales through her thumb and turns in her bed. The head of Markus, her doll, peaks out from the top of her blanket. He understands the resemblance the doll bears of him now.</p><p>He walks out and closes the door of her room, in silence.</p><p>Eleena stands by the kitchen and greets him with a smile. She takes a sip of the mug of tea in her hand; she does not offer Malgus any.</p><p>“She still sucks at her thumb.” He wears displeasure on his face but it isn’t because of Valoria’s habit. That he wasn’t around when he needed to be, that he couldn’t comfort her like only a father could, that he is still seeking the closeness he lost in her youth: these are the reasons for his displeasure.</p><p>“I know.” Eleena sighs. “How was your day with her?”</p><p>“It was…” Malgus thinks about the word to use, it was more than wonderful, more than amazing, more than spectacular.</p><p>“It was good.”</p><p>Eleena rests her tea down on the dining table and reaches up to touch his face, with the same softness as Valoria.</p><p>“You have lingered here too long, my love.” She says with glossed eyes.</p><p>A slow, debilitatingly painful countdown starts to tick in his head. He stands steadfast, lest he moves an inch and all that is before him turns to ephemeral smoke.</p><p>“You must not return again, I cannot take it much longer.” Eleena slumps her head on his chest and whispers amidst quiet sobs.</p><p>Malgus put both of his large hands on her shivering shoulders, his soothing weight offers some solace to her sadness. She lifts her face to see him. There is a perplexing look to her, he tries to see beyond what is in front of him, in search of the meaning behind her eyes.</p><p>She kisses him. The grooves of his scars brush against her skin, they are the same as before, unchanged, but so much have since then. Her tears fall more freely now as he kisses her back. He tastes the salt of her tears on his tongue, it is hot with anguish. Perhaps at him, he hopes it is at him.</p><p>His arms lock around her body, the ticking in his brain intensifies to a blaring alarm, then, a long beep, and finally, it stops. Her slight frame incrementally disappears as the sound of her cries become muted, the warmth of her is replaced by a familiar chill, her scent lost in the smell of stale circulated air.</p><p>Malgus blinks and he is right back where he was before, standing on the bridge of the cruiser. He looks around at the black interior of his command ship, all is as it was before. He shakes his head slightly, for the rearrangement of priorities.</p><p>“My Lord, a secured channel has been established with the Alliance Commander, shall I patch her through?” The Communications Officer looks at the Sith Lord in a query. Darth Malgus seems to be in a daze and with little time to spare in the execution of their battle plans.</p><p>“Of course, let’s not keep her waiting.” Malgus adjusts his foothold under his boots, grounding himself in the next phase of the attack. Soft static appears in front of where he stands and the image sharpens to project the figure of a short-haired Human female, the hilt of her sniper rifle visible behind her annoyed glance, her full lips flat in impatience.</p><p>“Malgus. Took you long enough. Unlike you, I haven’t got all day.” The woman, with her arms crossed in front of her chest, openly insults him for all of his subordinates to hear. Malgus’s eyes narrow at the insolence of this former Cipher Agent. Back then, she would have died by his hand from her improper attitude. Back then his presence meant something. Back then, he had true purpose. But he needs her help now, as much as he wishes he didn’t.</p><p>They discuss various strategies for the conquering of the Meridian Complex on Corellia. The lingering thoughts of Eleena and Valoria retreat to a space in his mind under quarantine. No one knows of the pain he carries, it is his burden to bear, a scar that does not heal, a wound that keeps its sting, no matter the amount of elapsed time. It is an unending reminder of the choices he has made, all of them have led him to this exact point in his life, on this bridge, on this cruiser, in this particular galaxy.</p><p>He says some words to the projection of the Human female, words he does not mean, but he has to say. A script written by another, a life lived by someone else. It must have been someone else; it would have been too heartbreaking if he lived this life, all by himself.</p><p>In the recitation of the false speech to the Alliance Commander, he makes a mental note to call Valoria the next moment he gets, whenever that is.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>To be continued. Come visit me on <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/introversiontherapy">my tumblr</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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